Core removal with mattresses of cellular material

ABSTRACT

The invention relates to device ( 1 ) for removing of profiles cut out from mattresses of cellular material ( 2 ) comprising at least one conveyor, onto which at least one mattress of cellular material ( 2 ) is laid leading the mattress of cellular material  2  towards a turn around device ( 10 ) for bending of the mattress of cellular material ( 2 ) at the turn around device ( 10 ) around preferably 180°. At the turn around device ( 10 ) at least an adjustable gap for a brush ( 11 ), at least an adjustable back pressure roll ( 12 ) and at least an adjustable brush ( 13 ) are provided.

The invention relates to core removal of mattresses of cellularmaterial, i. e. a device for removing of profiles cut out frommattresses of cellular material according to the features of thepreamble of claim 1.

Mattresses of cellular material are treated with profiled cuts foraerating and/or for forming of regions with different rigidity. Aftercutting the cut profiles remain initially inside the mattresses ofcellular material as socalled cores having to be picked out onerously.

There are some self made solutions in plants for mattresses of cellularmaterial for removing of profiles cut out from mattresses of cellularmaterial all having one thing in common: the mattress is bent for coreremoval at 180°, in order to open on the outside of the bent the cutfree edges of the mattresses of cellular material to take out moreeasily the cores from the mattresses of cellular material. Workers pickout die cores at the outside bent of the mattresses of cellularmaterial.

In some cases brushes or lamellae wheels with soft plastic lamellae aremounted at the outside bent for picking out allowing automaticallybrushing or beating of the cores. A machine with a combination of two ofsuch 180°-bents is commercially produced in Italy. For many profiledforms the automatic cleaning is only half successful. Many times manualwork is requested afterwards, necessitating the mattress to be turnedover manually. Thus in spite of the automatic pre-cleaning onerousphysical work with a high load to the back has to be done in order toentirely remove the profiles cut out from mattresses of cellularmaterial.

It is an object of the invention to provide a device for removing of theprofiles cut out from mattresses of cellular material avoiding thedisadvantages of the state of the art.

The solution is provided with a device for removing of the profiles cutout from mattresses of cellular material with the features of claim 1.

According to the invention a device for removing of profiles cut outfrom mattresses of cellular material comprises at least one conveyor,onto which the mattress of cellular material has to be laid leading themattress of cellular material towards a turn around device for bendingof the mattress of cellular material at the turn around device aroundpreferably 180°. At the turn around device an adjustable gap for abrush, an adjustable back pressure roll and an adjustable brush areprovided. A surface of the mattress of cellular material lead towardsthe gap for a brush is accessible through the adjustable gap for a brushand a surface opposite to the accessible surface of the mattress ofcellular material may be urged by the back pressure roll towards the gapfor a brush that as a consequence the surface of the mattress ofcellular material being accessible through the adjustable gap for abrush is extended. The brush is positioned in a way towards the surfaceof the mattress of cellular material being accessible through theadjustable gap for a brush that the cut out profiles can be seized bythe brush through the adjustable gap for a brush and can be pulled outduring conveyance of the mattress of cellular material along the gap fora brush from the preferably adjustably rotating brush. According to theinvention the effect of cleaning of the mattress of cellular material isautomatically improved by the arrangement of conveyors, adjustable gapfor a brush and adjustable back pressure roll allowing with thepositioning of the mattress of cellular material exactly at the bend of180° by pressure from behind to push the mattress of cellular materialin such a way through the gap of a brush that the adjustable brush canseize and brush out the cut out profiles stuck in the surface of themattress of cellular material. By adjusting the gap of a brush, positionof the back pressure roll and position of the brush the automatic coreremoval can be optimized in such a way that even profile cuts difficultto clean get almost entirely clean out of the machine due to the turnaround geometry being exactly adaptable to the thickness of the mattressand the shape of the profile cuts.

According to a preferred embodiment of the invention a ventilationinstallation conveys the profile cores brushed out and leads themthrough pipes towards a litter bin over a distance of possibly up to 80m.

The set-up of the machine allows that the operator after laying of themattress and start of the procedure finds after a few seconds thecleaned site again in front of him on the conveyor for control and maybe picking out any possibly remaining single cores. With a second startcommand the mattress is sent for cleaning of the other side. It is thelower side lying on the conveyor that is cleaned and turns up on thereturn als upper side for visual control and easily accessible for morecleaning if applicable.

Cross cuts may be cleaned after turning of the mattress for 90° as welltransversal relative to the direction of cut of the first transport ifdue to the depth of the cuts the core removal during the first run waseffected exclusively in longitudinal direction. The mattresses may passlongitudinally and transversally through the machine.

The combination of a Fillmatic Stack-Robot installation for supply anddrainage allows the control of the just cleaned side on the inputconveyor of the device for removing of the profiles cut out frommattresses of cellular material without any physical engagement. Withthis option the stack-robot does the supply of the fresh mattresses andthe stacking of the cleaned mattresses, the operator has only the dutyof visual control. For profiles easy to clean and not needing anycontrol of the cleaning there is an automatic program allowing entirerobot operation.

The invention is described subsequently by way of a preferredembodiment.

FIG. 1 shows a device for removing of profiles cut out from mattressesof cellular material according to the state of the art, and

FIG. 2 shows a turn around device of the device for removing of profilescut out from mattresses of cellular material according to the invention.

FIG. 1: A device 1 for removing of profiles cut out from a surface of amattress of cellular material 2 between remaining cellular materialcomprises a first conveyor 4, onto which the mattress of cellularmaterial 2 has to be laid and which leads the mattress of cellularmaterial 2 towards a front edge 5 of a second conveyor 6 around whichthe mattress of cellular material 2 is manually bent around about 180°below a lever 7 and conveyed back. Cut out profiles may be pulled outfrom the surface 8 of the mattress of cellular material 2 accessiblebefore the front edge 5.

FIG. 2: Corresponding features are referenced with the reference numbersof FIG. 1. A device 1 for removing of profiles cut out from a surface ofa mattress of cellular material 2 between remaining cellular materialcomprises a conveyor, onto which the mattress of cellular material 2 hasto be laid. The mattress of cellular material 2 may be long up to 2.2 m,large up to 2.2 m and high up to 0.1 till 0.4. The mattress of cellularmaterial 2 is put on the conveyor in a way that at least one of the cutdirections are facing downwards with their openings transversal relativeto the direction of conveyance.

The mattress of cellular material 2 is taken by the conveyor towards aturn-around device for bending of the mattress of cellular material 2 atthe turn-around device for preferably 180°. At the turn around device anadjustable gap for a brush 11, an adjustable back pressure roll 12 andan adjustable brush 13 are provided. A surface 8 of the mattress ofcellular material 2 lead towards the gap for a brush 11 is accessiblethrough the adjustable gap for a brush 11. The gap for a brush 11 isadjustable to the height of the mattress of cellular material 2.

A surface 14 opposite to the accessible surface 8 of the mattress ofcellular material 2 may be urged by the back pressure roll 12 towardsthe gap for a brush 11 that as a consequence the surface 8 of themattress of cellular material 2 being accessible through the adjustablegap for a brush 11 is extended. The pressure from the back pressure roll12 towards the gap for a brush 11 is dependent from the depth of the cutout profiles and the shape of the cuts. The deeper and the more curvedthe cuts are the more the back pressure roll 12 has to be advanced indirection towards the gap for a brush 11 with the limit being that themattress of cellular material 2 is not torne.

The brush 13 may be positioned in such a way relative to the surface 8being accessible through the adjustable gap for a brush 11 that the cutout profiles can be seized by the brush before the adjustable gap for abrush 11 and can be pulled out during conveyance of the mattress ofcellular material 2 along the gap for a brush 11 from the preferablyadjustably rotating brush 13. The brush 13 may be different according tothe quality of the cellular material: a brush with densely arrangedbristles, a brush with singular bushels of bristles or a brush beatingwith lamellae instead of bristles against the surface of the cellularmaterial.

The set-up of the machine 1 allows that the operator after laying of themattress and start of the procedure finds the cleaned surface 8 again infront of him on the conveyor for control and may be picking out anypossibly remaining single cores. With a second start command themattress 2 is sent on the conveyor 9 for cleaning of the other side 14again towards the gap for a brush 11 if applicable.

Cross cuts may be cleaned after turning of the mattress for 90° as welltransversal relative to the direction of cut of the first transport ifdue to the depth of the cuts the core removal during the first run waseffected exclusively in longitudinal direction. The mattresses 2 maypass longitudinally and transversally through the device 1.

For profiles easy to clean there is an automatic program providedallowing entire robot operation.

1. A device (1) for removing of profiles cut out from mattresses ofcellular material (2) comprises at least one conveyor, onto which atleast one mattress of cellular material (2) is laid leading the mattressof cellular material 2 towards a turn around device (10) for bending ofthe mattress of cellular material (2) at the turn around device (10)around preferably 180°, characterized in that at the turn around device(10) at least an adjustable gap for a brush (11), at least an adjustableback pressure roll (12) and at least an adjustable brush (13) areprovided, a surface (8) of the mattress of cellular material (2) isaccessible through the adjustable gap (11) and a surface (14) oppositeto the accessible surface (8) of the mattress of cellular material (2)is urged by the back pressure roll (12) in such a way that the surface(8) of the mattress of cellular material (2) being accessible throughthe adjustable gap for a brush (11) is extended and the brush (13) ispositioned in a way towards the accessible surface (8) of the mattressof cellular material (2) that the cut out profiles in the accessiblesurface (8) of the mattress of cellular material (2) can be seized bythe brush (13).
 2. Device (1) according to claim 1, characterized inthat the geometry of turn around is adjustable to the shape of themattress, particularly its height and the shape of the profile cuts. 3.Device (1) according to claim 1, characterized in that the brush ispreferably adjustably rotating driven.
 4. Device (1) according to claim1, characterized in that a ventilation installation is provided directlyat or below the brush (13) or gap for a brush (11), collects the brushedout profile cores and leads them through a pipe to a litter bin. 5.Device (1) according to claim 1, characterized in that a protectiondevice is provided against manual access into the gap for a brush (11).6. Device (1) according to claim 1, characterized in that a programcontrol in a memory is provided, in which are stored adjustmentsarranged depending from profile cuts and/or height of mattress for thespeeds of the conveyor (9), opening of the gap for a brush (11),position of the back pressure roll (12) and position of the brush (13)for automatic control of the picking out of the cores.